13. Child‘s Up-bringing

While growing up a child is naturally seeking answers to everything that surrounds him and that he sees. Therefore one of the most significant parts in raising a child by the parents is their explaining to the child of the whole ambience with a big love and patience. And that means that the parents themselves must also be well-educated people. They must know how to explain to their children all these things in simple and easy-to-understand words. But it is not enough to explain them. It is necessary to let the children experience them. To experience many of the things that might be experienced at their own age.    

While now many of the contemporary families have distanced themselves from their children so much that the responsibility for the broken off relationships of love and respect among generations throughout the planet exclusively lies on them. The rhythm of man’s life is very intensive, a material manner of man’s thinking has completely obscured a spiritual bond among generations and of an individual with an individual. It is due to this broken off bond that all conflicts and stress arise. 

I was a happy child since in our large family with nine children all of us were always shown by our parents a wonderful feeling of love. Therefore we could ourselves experience what it meant to love as well. I was extremely happy when my father started to take me to his carpenter‘s workshop where I saw with my own eyes how he was working, how he was creating a piece of furniture. Therefore I myself desired to be like him. And I was even more happy when he was patiently teaching me how to handle the tools, how to create something by myself.   

My father could not explain to me many things that I showed interest in but he always did confess to me he did not know it. And his confession did not in the least reduce my love for him. As to a little child, it seemed to me that he had to know everything and about everything for who else could know more than he could. And his first answer about a thunder and lightening, “I don‘t know,“ upset me that he was not the one to know all the things. But because of this answer my love for him did not change.

Therefore, parents must always remain sincere so that their child would feel the same vibrations being channeled thru their sincere confession they might not know something. But at the same time they must also know more to let their little ones down the least because the environment around them is so diverse and their looks are so penetrating and pure and they desire to experience everything so much. Such desires of theirs are natural, every baby is born with such desires. And the parents can wonderfully handle all their sincere questions and satisfy their inquisitiveness if only they were striving for a deeper knowledge and perception of the ambience themselves.   

Parents by their attitudes lay the foundation of their own future thru their children. And not only their own personal future but also that of all the society; of all humanity. 

While I was growing up, my conversations with the heavenly Father became more frequent and deeper. 

I enjoyed climbing together with my father up a big hill on the outskirts of Nazareth and looking around the vicinity stretching out far away ahead. On a sunny day I would even see a dim view of the sea at a great distance. And such outings were among the most pleasant experiences to me. During them my father explained to me as to where Greek-gentile cities were, he pointed to me the direction of the Jewish holy center of Jerusalem with its grand synagogues and many magnificent Jewish holidays. I could grasp from these stories quite much as to how unhappy the Jewish people were because the father would sigh in sadness that they had to serve the gentiles rather than Jews since they were under the gentile oppression.      

But most deeply I was moved by my father‘s sincere desire to enlighten me, to teach me, and to allow me to experience everything what would be fitting to experience for a child of that age. He would never forbid me to work together with him and would never push me away from him even being occupied very much. And such a relationship is very much necessary to a child for it is only by this bond that the child is developing within himself his respect and love for that person he is in contact with; and not necessarily with his father or mother; with every person playing and growing with him that sincerely.

This attitude is missing in the present-day families because the greatest amount of energy and efforts they devote only to ensuring the material wellbeing of their children and altogether skipping from their eyesight a patient and full of love upbringing of their children by associating and growing together with them. The raising of a child is a sincere and full of love association with him, forgetting the whole environment. While the father, or the mother, is associating with the child at that moment there must exist this relationship only. It is of no importance whether the father is engaged in some activity, busy with his car, writing the most sophisticated thesis, getting ready for the next day‘s work, washing dishes, or cleaning up his clothes or shoes, whether the mother is taking care of the family work for the next day, preparing dinner, talking with her friend visiting their family the child must also be always present in this action and process as an equal member of the family. The child must participate in all this activity as a partner, and not as the little one.     

And you, dear parents, must sincerely explain to the child in simple words so that he would understand what you are busy with at the definite moment. And you must also allow the child to participate in this process. It is not important that the child will fail to perform some act the way you want. This is the purpose of your fatherly-motherly love that, with a divine patience, you would teach him all these actions that are up to his shoulders so that while associating even with your friends you would not push him away but also show your attention to him as well. This attention and sincerity make up that living bond that love is based on.